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With a date for the next UK-EU summit now confirmed for next month, and a Prime Minister eager to move closer to Europe, it was another week of warming relations on both sides of the Channel. As Burnham might say: “Ursula, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
Meanwhile, Reform UK has been plunged into a fresh crisis after another undercover operation - this time by ITV - released footage showing candidates and councillors spewing racist and misogynistic language.
And we published new expert research on exactly how the UK could rejoin the EU within a single Parliament, setting out the roadmap on how we can make that happen.
Read on for your Weekend Wire, and much more on all of that.
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Just one Parliament
Latest Best for Britain analysis has established that the UK could rejoin the European Union (EU) within a single Parliament, and complete negotiations in less time than it took for the UK to agree its trade deal with India.
Our new study, which was covered exclusively by the Financial Times, sets out that - given the example of Finland - the UK could be on the road back to the heart of Europe faster than many might think.
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It all came just days after the European Commission announced measures to prepare the bloc for upcoming new member states, including future accession treaty safeguards and outlining “indicative roadmaps” for Montenegro, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine.
As Oliver Nicholls, our policy manager and lead author of the study, stressed:
“No country has ever walked this path as a former member, already closely aligned and sharing the EU’s values.
“The process is rigorous, but it is well trodden and predictable, and with the political will, Britain could be back at the table within a single Parliament.”
I see Paris, I see France
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In a welcome softening since last week, France has reportedly dropped its opposition to the UK being included in the EU’s “Made in Europe” legislation as long as the British government aligns with the bloc’s position over tariffs on Chinese EVs.
France joins Germany, which has always supported the UK’s calls to be designated European for the purposes of the Industrial Accelerator Act. The two countries are reportedly now proposing that, for the car industry specifically, the UK could be included in Made in Europe.
The UK and the EU’s car industry have long argued that excluding Britain from the Made in Europe scheme would be damaging for both sides, due to highly integrated supply chains.
Bienvenu Burnham
Drum roll please… as highlighted above, we officially have a date confirmed for the long-awaited (and much-needed) UK-EU summit. Leaders from Britain and the European Union will meet on Friday, November 20, in Brussels.
With nearly a month to go, there’s plenty for the meeting agenda, including anticipated announcements on agri-food, emissions trading, and a youth mobility scheme. On Monday, Burnham gave a statement to MPs in the House of Commons, which saw him air his reopening of the European conversation in Parliament for the first time since his Labour conference speech.
In addition to getting current agreements across the finish line, Burnham is eager to begin a “calm, clear-eyed, rational look” at even closer relations with the EU, including working with police and security agencies to boost information-sharing and help tackle smuggling gangs endangering lives in the Channel.
As our CEO Naomi Smith rightly said in response:
“Burnham’s approach to the damage Brexit has done to Britain is a breath of fresh air for our politics; but lasting relief requires lasting change, which will only hold if politicians recognise the broad consensus of belief across the country about the future of our relationship with Europe, free from foreign interference and influence.”
Reform UK exposed
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In the latest expose into Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, ITV has released appalling footage from its undercover investigation featuring party candidates and councillors using racist, violent and sexist language.
In video footage released this week, Nigel Farage rules a controversial mayoral candidate Dr Chris Parry – who said the then-Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy should go home to the Caribbean – should be made to apologise, but not stand down, as written up by the Guardian.
Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin is also filmed telling the undercover ITV reporter that the party needed “women press officers” and that: “They [Reform UK] are so chauvinistic...
“They just exclude you if you are a woman. There’s a bit of a male issue going on.”
In response, Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s Treasury spokesperson, said it was “not my experience” of the party, and that it had acted to “suspend or remove” councillors who were filmed by ITV making racist comments. He insisted that: “In all political parties there are bad individuals.”
The Press Association and others reported that Reform UK has stressed that there is “no room for racism” in its ranks, while Farage said the ITV investigation was carried out “because the establishment frankly want us out of the picture”.
Three councillors have already stood down from the party since the first footage was released. You can follow all of the resignations and defections in our tracker.
The full segment, Undercover: A Year in Reform, will air on 18 October at 10.20pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV & STV Player.
As the reality of Reform UK continues to be displayed, we will keep working to hold them and Nigel Farage to account.
From Russia, without love
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If Farage’s championing of Brexit wasn’t enough, MI5 chief Sir Ken McCallum confirmed earlier this week there was Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum. Although the intelligence boss was quick to warn against overstating its impact on the result…
Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s office also clarified that Burnham himself believed it was highly likely Russia tried to influence the referendum - but he did not believe those efforts were successful.
Back in 2020, a parliamentary report stopped short of saying whether Russia had tried to interfere in UK elections and referendums. It did, however, criticise the government for not properly assessing or tackling the threat from Russian “troll” accounts on social media.
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We love a wildlife story here at Best for Britain HQ, so how could we resist sharing the delightful update that giant tortoises are once again “thriving” in the Seychelles - almost 100 years on from the species facing extinction.
After their home island of Aldabra Atoll was declared a nature reserve in 1982, and thanks to the efforts of conservationists and researchers, including Dr Frauke Fleischer-Dogley, CEO of the Seychelles Islands Foundation, some 180,000 giant tortoises are now happily roaming - the highest figure ever recorded.
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They also now outnumber the human population of the Seychelles (135,000). Slow and steady is winning this race.
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Frequent cringe column flyer, Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick, is back after his appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Jenrick claimed Nigel Farage is “someone who’s probably done more than almost anybody else to stand against racism and the far right, and to protect our politics from that over the course of my lifetime”.
It’s certainly an interesting week to advance that argument.
Brazil, Bulgaria and Slovakia all face elections next week.
Here at home, the government will release a blitz of figures including labour market, trade and consumer price inflation.
And we will officially be one week out from the first Budget under Burnham’s leadership.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Yours,
Eliza
Best for Britain
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